Comb with retractable styling tool



Jan. 19, 1965 M. o. LARSON ETAL COME WITH RETRACTABLE STYLING TOOL Filed July 27, 196? INVENTORS MERLYN O. LARSON SEBASTION J. FRANCO ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3 166,081 QGMS'E WITH RETRACTABLE STYLEIG TOOL Merlyn I). Larson, 924 S. Grand Ave., Spencer, Iowa, and Sebastian .l. Franco, 316 19th St, Omaha, Nebr. Filed July 27, 1962, Ser. No. 212,875 3 Claims. (Cl. 132-122) This invention relates to a style comb, and more particularly, is concerned with a multi-purpose style comb having a hair styling tool nested in concealed relation within the base of the comb and slidable endwise to project from either end of the comb for converting to a tail comb.

It has been customary for beauticians to maintain an assortment of style combs, such, for example, as a fine tooth style comb, a coarse tooth style comb, or a combination of the two, a fine tooth tail comb, and a coarse tooth tail comb, and during a typical hair styling operation, it

is frequently necessary to switch from one to another of these combs. At times the desired comb is not readily available and time wasting rummaging through the beautiand fine teeth at the other for use either as a fine tooth I tail comb or as a coarse tooth tail comb.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the style comb of the present invention with portions of the comb broken away to exposure a portion of a normally concealed, double ended, pin member forming a part of the invention, and with the opposite limit positions of the pin member illustrated in phantom;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged transverse cross-sectional view through the comb taken on the line 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmental sectional view along line 55 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGURE 1, it will be apparent that the convertible style comb 10 of this invention retains the familiar appearance and shape characteristic of style combs of the type that has long been used by beauticians. The comb 10 has a substantially straight or rectilinear elongated base or back 11 having a set 12 of comb teeth projecting from one of its lengthwise edges. Fine comb teeth 12F are shown at one end and coarse comb teeth 12C at the other.

In accordance with the present invention, the base or back 11 of the comb 10 is provided with an open ended guide slot or groove 14 along its outwardly facing lengthwise edge 15 and a hair styling or curl forming tool 16 is mounted in snug, nesting relation within this guide'slot for lengthwise sliding movement therein. The tool 16 comprises a rat tail like pin or rod member 18 that is provided intermediately therealong with a finger or thumb pad type handle member 20. The pin or rod member 18 is enterable endwise into a slot 14 to dispose the handle the customary combing operations.

member 20 externally along the outwardly facing edge 15' of the base of the comb for making possible ready manual adjustment of the position of the styling tool 16. The tool 16 and slot 14 should be so complementarily proportioned that at some point along the length of the tool 16 there is sufiicient frictional engagement between the tool 16 and base11 that edgewise dislodgement of the tool from the slot is prevented while still permitting ready adjustment of the tool 16 lengthwise of slot 14.

In the preferred constructional embodiment of the invention, the base 11 or back, except for groove or slot 14, has the same general transverse cross-sectional configuration (see FIGURE 2) that is so familiar to beauticians and thus does not impair its basic utility by .presenting a strange surface configuration such as would make it more difficult for the beautician to handle the comb in the accepted and timeless fashion. The comb, and in particular, its base 11, preferably is molded of hard rubber or other suitable resiliently flexible material, so as to be resilient in the area of groove 14, and the tool 16 is preferably formed from a similar material, though, if desired, it may be of stainless steel or other suitable metal, since it is not essential that tool 16 be flexible or resilient. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 15, the slot 14 is undercut in the base 11 and has a transverse cross-sectional shape of the keyhole or dovetail slot type formed with the narrow region of the keyhole slot constituting a lengthwise extending mouth 22 which opens through the edge 15 of the comb base 11. The pin tool 16 isdisposed in snug sliding relation within the enlarged inner or bottom portion 24 of the slot 14. The wall surfaces of the comb base 11 that define the slot 14 engage the body of the pinmember to provide interlocking abutment surfaces 26 that prevent its withdrawal edgewise through the mouth 22 of the slot, and preferably this is done by making the external dimensions of the pin member 18 substantially the same as the internal dimensions of the rounded portion of the comb base slot 14. Preferably, the external side faces 28 of the base of the comb are smooth to the touch.

As seen in FIGURES 1-4, the handle member 20 is planar and elongate in configuration and extends parallel to comb base 11. It comprises a generally flat, blocklike body 30 provided with one or more knurl forming protuberances 32 along its top surface 34, and body 30 is connected to pin or rod member 18 by an elongate neck portion 36.

While the tool 16 normally assumes a reasonably stable position within the slot 14, it is preferred to provide some means for offering increased resistance to movement longitudinally of slot 14 to insure that tool 16 will remain positioned as desired when in use, as when the tool is at its centered position along the length of the slot, or when the tool is positioned in either of the extended positions shown in phantom in FIGURE 1. To achieve this, we prefer to provide the side surfaces 40 of the handle neck portion 36 with outwardly projecting ribs orprotuberances 42 that ride in sliding engagement with base sunfaces 44 that define mouth 22. Preferably, the transverse dimension of neck portion 36 through ribs 42 exceeds the distance between mouth surfaces 44 by a distance on the order of .002-.OO3 of an inch so the neck portion 36 will be resiliently gripped by the lip portions 46 defined by groove 14; and it will be noted that the mouth 22 is of uniform dimension along slot 14 so that the same gripping action will be provided at any point along the base of the comb.

In use, the tool 16 is positioned in its retracted full line position of FIGURE 1 for normal comb usage, and, of course, the comb 14 is handled in the usual manner for Patented Jan. 19., 1965 And for such opera- 20 outwardly of the fine comb end of the j V extent desired, thus automatically forming a'fine tooth tions,the comb is held in the manner customary for combs of the general type illustrated.

When it is desired to have comb -10 serve the function I of a tail comb, the handle 29 is engaged either by ones thumb or finger to move the pin member 18 outwardly of the comb base.

For instance, when one is using the fine comb teeth 12F of comb It) in the manner customary with beautieians, and it is desired to perform a fine tooth tail comb operation, the operator holds the comb in the manner suggested by FIGURE'l and merely presses the handle comb, to the tail comb, and then proceeds in'the same manner that beauticians always have when using fine tail combs.- After the. desired fine tooth tail comb manipulations have been completed, tool 16 is withdrawn into comb base 11 by, similarly pressing handle 20, but inthe opposite direction. 1 a i The coarse comb teeth side of comb is used in a similar manner. i ,7

Thus, the comb of this invention provides an all purpose three in one comb arrangement, making readily The foregoing description and the drawings are given merely to explain and illustrate our invention and the invention is not'to be limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, since those skilled in the art who have our disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

We claim: a i c 1. A multipurpose style comb for use as a hair styling tool, said comb comprising:

an elongated back portion that is substantially rectilinear longitudinally thereof and defines a top portion and an under portion along oppositely positioned longitudinally extending edges thereof,

a substantially planar toothed portion that comprises a plurality of comb teeth aflixed to theunder portion of said back portion and projecting away from said back portion oppositely of said top portion in the lane of said toothed portion and transversely of said back portion, v y

said comb teeth at one end of said back portion being proportioned and spaced from each other to define fine comb teeth, It a v said comb teeth at the other end of said back portion being proportioned and spaced'from each other to define coarse comb teeth, r

said back portion being formed to define a rectilinear dovetail type slot extending longitudinally of said back portion between the ends of said back portion and having:

its opposite ends open at the respective ends of said back portion and its mouth disposed along-said top portion of said back portion and lying in the plane of said toothed portion, 7

and having cross-sectional configurations transversely and longitudinally of said back portion that are substantially uniform over the length of said slot between the ends thereof,

:1 t with said ends of said slot being aligned with the longitudinal axis of said slot,

' and an elongated tail comb forming element shiftably mounted in said slot,

said element comprising ,an elongate rectilinear mem- I said member having its length proportioned to dispose both its end portions within said slot but respectively adjacent said slot endswhen said element is centered within said slot. with respect to said back portion ends, i a

said element further comprising a handle fixed to said member adjacent the mid portion thereof and projecting outwardly of said slot through said mouth thereof, 1

said handle including a pad type thumb or finger engaging portion positioned over said top portion of said comb back portion, i

whereby, when said tail comb forming element is 'in its centered position within said slot, said comb may be used as either a fine'tooth or a coarse tooth style comb by grasping the comb and placing the comb in operating position to use said comb teeth at said one end or said comb teeth at said other end of said back portion, respectively,

and when using the comb as either a fine tooth or a coarse tooth style comb, and a tail comb operation is required, said tail 'comb forming element may be moved to extend theend portion thereof that is disposed adjacent the end of the comb inuse outwardly of said back portion by finger or thumb manipulation of said handle thumb or finger engaging portion without changing said operating position of said comb.

2. The, style comb set forth in claim 1 wherein said pad type thumb or finger engaging handle portion of 7 said tail comb forming element comprises:

a generally planar block-like body extending transversely of said plane of said comb toothed portion and disposed in substantial contiguous relation'with respect to said top portion of said comb back portion,

said body defining a finger or thumb engageable surface'that extends generally parallel to said comb back portoin and faces away from, the top portion of said back portion, 1

said surface being knurled and having a dimensio transversely of said comb back portion that approximates the transverse dimension of said back portion.

3. The style comb set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said mouth of said slottresiliently grips and frictionally engages the portion of said tail'comb forming element that projects therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 194,447 Laurence Aug. 21,1877 622,621 Ham Apr. 4, 1899 2,559,867 Garofalo July 10, 1951 2,571,701 Forrester Oct. 16, 1951 2,636,497 Raphael Apr. 28, 1953 

1. A MULTIPURPOSE COMB FOR USE AS A HAIR STYLING TOOL, SAID COMB COMPRISING: AN ELONGATED BACK PORTION THAT IS SUBSTANTIALLY RECTILINEAR LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF AND DEFINES A TOP PORTION AND AN UNDER PORTION ALONG OPPOSITELY POSITIONED LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING EGES THEREOF, A SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR TOOTHED PORTION THAT COMPRISES A PLURALITY OF COMB TEETH AFFIXED TO THE UNDER PORTION OF SAID BACK PORTION AND PROJECTING AWAY FROM SAID BACK PORTION OPPOSITELY OF SAID TOP PORTION IN THE PLANE OF SAID TOOTHED PORTION AND TRANSVERSELY OF SAID BACK PORTION, SAID COMB TEETH AT ONE END OF SAID BACK PORTION BEING PROPORTIONED AND SPACED FROM EACH OTHER TO DEFINE FINE COMB TEETH, SAID COMB TEETH AT THE OTHER END FO SAID BACK PORTION BEING PROPORTIONAL AND SPACED FROM EACH OTHER TO DEFINE COARSE COMB TEETH, SAID BACK PORTION BEING FORMED TO DEFINE A RECTILINERA DOVETAIL TYPE SLOT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID BACK PORTION BETWEEN THE ENDS OF SAID BACK PORTION AND HAVING: ITS OPPOSITE ENDS OPEN AT THE RESPECTIVE ENDS OF SAID BACK PORTION AND ITS MOUTH DISPOSED ALONG SAID TOP PORTION OF SAID BACK PORTION AND LYING IN THE PLANE OF SAID TOOTHED PORTION, AND HAVING CROSS-SECTIONAL CONFIGURATIONS ENDS OF SAID AND LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID BACK PORTION THAT ARE SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM OVER THE LENGTH OF SAID SLOT BETWEE THE ENDS THEREOF, WITH SAID ENDS OF SAID SLOT BEING ALIGNED WITH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID SLOT, AND AN ELONGATED TAIL COMB FORMING ELEMENT SHIFATBLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLOT, 